The present invention relates to a restraint and protection seat for an infant, which is provided on a seat of a vehicle such as an automobile and is fixed on a vehicle seat by a seat belt furnished on the vehicle seat.
In a vehicle such as an automobile, a restraint and protection seat for an infant has been used in the past to restrain the infant in a sitting posture during driving and to protect the infant from the impact and the shock during acceleration or deceleration of the vehicle.
FIG. 4 shows an example of a restraint and protection seat for an infant in general use. As it is evident from FIG. 4, a restraint and protection seat for an infant comprises a seat main unit 2, on which the infant sits, and a base 3 supporting the seat main unit 2 at a reclinable position.
The seat main unit 2 is furnished a) with a seat belt 4 to restrain the infant and b) with a breast pad 5, mounted on the tip of the seat belt 4.
At the front end of the breast pad 5, a tongue is provided, and the seat main unit 2 is furnished with a buckle 7 to removably restrain this tongue. Namely, by inserting the tongue 6 into a hole 7a of the buckle 7, the tongue 6 is held by the buckle 7. When the release button 8 is pressed, the engagement between the tongue 6 and the buckle 7 is released. When the tongue 6 is engaged with the buckle 7, the infant is held by the infant seat belt 4 and the breast pad 5.
The base 3 of the restraint and protection seat 1 for the infant with such an arrangement is placed on a seat 9 of the vehicle. After inserting the seat belt 10 furnished on the vehicle seat 9 into the mounting hole 11 or 12 on the seat main unit 2 and tightening it, it is fixed on the vehicle seat 9.
When an infant is held by a restraint and protection seat 1, it is preferable that the infant seat belt 4 and the breast pad 5 closely fit the infant.
However, physical size and shape differ according to each child. Also, an infant grows fast, and the physical shape of the child extensively changes within a short period of time in many cases. Thus, it is necessary to closely fit the infant seat belt 4 and the breast pad 5 to the infant to adapt to various physical shapes of the infants and to overcome rapid change in physical shape.
Conventionally, the positions of the infant seat belt 4 and breast pad 5 have been adjusted in such a manner that the positions of tongue 6 and buckle 7 are adjusted in several steps in a front-to-back direction by engaging the buckle 7 into several grooves furnished in the front-to-back direction. Such a techniques and similar technique have been disclosed by the Japanese Provisional Utility Model Publication No. 62-52530, the Japanese Provisional Utility Model Publication No. 64-1557, and the Japanese Provisional Patent Publication No. 62-116337.
However, such adjustment of positions in several steps may not provide a perfect fit between the infant's body and the infant seat belt 4 or breast pad 5 because of the relationship of the physical shape of the infant with the stepwise adjustment. The imperfect fit between the infant's body and the infant seat belt 4 or breast pad 5 gives discomfort to the infant instead of a relaxed feeling.
In the conventional position adjustment method, locking and lock releasing operations are performed independently from the position adjusting operation in many cases, and this makes the adjusting operation very bothersome to the operator.
To solves these problems, it is an object of the present invention to offer a restraint and protection seat for an infant, by which it is possible to adjust the positions continuously and to provide perfect fit between the infant and the infant seat belt as well as the breast pad.
Another object of the invention is to offer a restraint and protection seat for an infant, which can improve the maneuverability of the seat.